Research Data Management

The tools and practices outlined in this strategy ensure that MacEwan University’s researchers are well-equipped to meet the requirements of publishers and funding agencies, including the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy. The strategy guides the development of policies and procedures that facilitate and encourage research data management best practices.

Read the Tri-Agency policy

Data Management Plan (DMP)

A DMP is a formal document that outlines how data is managed during and after a research project and is one component of research data management. It is a living document that may be refined as a project progresses. DMPs may include information on how data is collected, documented, stored, preserved, shared or reused and disposed of. A DMP explicitly outlines who is responsible for managing the data and how they will do so. A DMP also takes into consideration any legal or ethical implications of the data.

Data repository

A data repository is a database designed to collect, manage, store, share, preserve and explore research data. Data repositories ensure preservation, maintenance and availability of research data.

Indigenous data

Indigenous data is any information that is from or about any Indigenous person, their community or their territory in any format (e.g., tribal archives, oral histories, traditional and cultural knowledge, and information). Researchers should align their RDM practices with the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility and Ethics) to guide the appropriate use and reuse of Indigenous data.

Indigenous data definition adapted from the First Nations Information Governance Centre

CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance

Research data

Research data are generated or used as a primary source through the course of a scholarly pursuit, teaching activity or research project. More comprehensively defined, research data refers to any data that are used as primary sources to support technical or scientific enquiry, research, scholarship or artistic activity and that are used as evidence in the research process and/or are commonly accepted in the research community as necessary to validate research findings and results. It is important to note that any digital and non-digital content has the potential of becoming research data. Research data may be experimental data, observational data, operational data, third-party data, public-sector data, monitoring data, processed data or repurposed data.

Defined from CODATA RDM Terminology

Research Data Management (RDM)

RDM encompasses the processes and practices applied throughout a research project to guide the collection, documentation, storage, transfer and preservation of research data. Responsible RDM practices ensure that research data is complete, understandable and securely stored. Wherever possible, data creators and curators should strive to follow the FAIR Principles to ensure Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability of data.

Learn about FAIR Principles

Sensitive research data

Sensitive research data refers to information that must be safeguarded against unwarranted access or disclosure. Sensitive data includes any information relating to an identified or identifiable person, organization or entity.

Definition adapted from Sensitive Data Toolkit for Researchers

In order to assess institutional readiness for an RDM strategy, it was imperative to engage in a period of information gathering and analysis. A review of the current data landscape on campus and an assessment of existing capacity and resources for managing research data was conducted, along with an environmental scan of existing strategies and best practices from other post-secondary institutions, especially those of similar scope and scale.

Faculty feedback and survey

To ensure faculty researcher perspectives and feedback are reflected in the strategy, the MacEwan community has been and will continue to be consulted at numerous points during RDM strategy development, which includes making the draft Institutional RDM Strategy available for open consultation.

As the Institutional RDM Strategy is considered a living document, feedback from researchers on research data management tools, technologies and support services will be collected and evaluated regularly as the strategy evolves in order to integrate feedback for meaningfully addressing researcher needs related to RDM practices.

In Spring 2022, an RDM Survey was administered to all faculty to gain an accurate picture of current data assets and practices. This information was analyzed to get a sense of the scale and nature of research data being produced, data management practices currently being used by researchers, as well as to gauge faculty awareness of current supports. It also contributed to our understanding of key RDM issues and helped to further identify gaps in infrastructure and support at MacEwan.

RDM Maturity Assessment Model in Canada

From the Digital Research Alliance of Canada

The Steering Committee reviewed the RDM Maturity Assessment Model in Canada (MAMIC) and specifically contributed to sections that align with their area of expertise. Collectively, the Steering Committee’s completion of the MAMIC (and periodic review and update of the MAMIC) has provided a more comprehensive and current picture of institutional readiness and has identified four key existing resources, below:

Data management plans (DMP)

DMPs are considered best practice for managing research data. The MacEwan Library offers support to researchers with the DMP Assistant, which is an online tool that assists in preparing a research data management plan and is accessible through the Library website.

The Office of Research Services (Ethics) and Library are collaborating to develop a MacEwan-specific DMP template to reduce administrative burden for researchers.

Institutional Support and Training

Due to the diverse RDM needs and requirements across the institution, local support and training for researchers, and those who support researchers, is important.

As a mid-sized institution, MacEwan currently employs a full-time Data Services and Science Librarian, who is available to all faculty, staff and students to support and inform their data management practices, a library technician providing additional support with the DMP tool and data repository, and a temporary research assistant (RA) to support the development and launch of the Institutional RDM Strategy. MacEwan will continue to collaborate with the wider research community and work with regional and national groups who are collaboratively developing resources, services, infrastructure and policy related to RDM.

Currently, the Library offers guidance and training specifically for data management and deposit, and faculty members are able to book an appointment with Library Data Services for support.

Data repositories and archiving

Research data need to be managed over the long term, so that they can be accessed and reused (when appropriate) in the context of a formal data repository.

The library can work with researchers to find a repository that is appropriate to their data and meets their needs. Directories such as re3data.org can aid in the identification of appropriate discipline-specific repositories. Additionally, the MacEwan University Library manages the MacEwan University Data Repository which is hosted in Canada by Borealis, the Canadian Dataverse Repository. The MacEwan University Data Repository will accept data that is generated through the course of a scholarly pursuit, teaching activity, or research project at MacEwan University or deposited with the expectation of future use for those purposes.

Borealis is an open-source, web-based data repository tool that is used to manage, store, share, preserve, explore, and analyze research data. Borealis has many benefits including: Provides a venue for secure data management, allows researchers to share datasets with collaborators or to make their data publicly available, provides versioning of datasets, provides long-term, stable access to datasets, increases research visibility, and enables researchers to meet grant or publishing requirements that require researchers to deposit data related to a publication or research project.

Institutional policies, guidelines and/or procedures:

MacEwan has several policies that are relevant to RDM, but there are no current formal policies that are dedicated only to RDM.

MacEwan University policies that indirectly address research data include, but are not limited to: Responsible Conduct of Research and Scholarly Activity, Ethical Review of Research with Human Participants, Records Management, and Use of Personal Information for Research Purposes Procedure.

Research involving human participants, their data or their biological materials involve ethical considerations and must follow the requirements of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans - TCPS2 (2018).

Sensitive data

Sensitive data, such as personal health information, personal information, confidential records, identifiable data specific to individuals or communities, traditional knowledge or Indigenous data, and data regarding endangered species are considered sensitive. To support MacEwan researchers working with sensitive data, the Steering Committee has approached the Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) to participate in the Sensitive Data Pilot Project. Participation in the pilot project would include resources for de-identification and anonymization of data, choosing an appropriate repository, and guidance for discussing data sharing with research participants. This assists researchers in allowing their data to be as open as possible, and as closed as necessary. In addition, the Sensitive Data Toolkit for Researchers will be made available to all faculty members as a resource.

Indigenous research

Indigenous research requires strong community engagement and collaborative practices. MacEwan University, like the Tri-Agencies, recognizes that a distinctions-based approach is needed to ensure that the unique rights, interests and circumstances of the First Nations, Metis and Inuit are acknowledged, affirmed and implemented, and that data created in the context of research by or with Indigenous communities, collectives and organizations will be managed according to the principles developed by, and in partnership with them, as outlined in the TCPS2 (2018) - Chapter 9 and in accordance with the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit principles of ownership, control, access, and possession (OCAP). DMPs must be co-developed with those communities, collectives and organizations; that is, they must be community-led or Indigenous-led, in accordance with the RDM principles or DMP formats that they accept. The communities, collectives and organizations also guide and ultimately determine how the data are collected, used and preserved and have a right to repatriate the data, which may result in exceptions to the data deposit requirements.

To determine institutional capacity to manage data, current and possible future data storage needs, and existing data management services on campus, we have used researcher feedback and best practices and services offered external to the institution to identify gaps in MacEwan’s RDM agenda. The following gaps are areas that stakeholders have prioritized:

Lack of formal policy statement

The Steering Committee will work to develop an institutional policy specific to RDM, that describes data management planning, data and metadata quality and standards, data storage, retention and preservation, data access and sharing (along with special considerations to this, including, but not limited to, sensitive data, Indigenous research, intellectual property rights, ownership and confidentiality).

Development of the institutional policy will also take into account key external resources established by Tri-Agency, which include but are not limited to: 

Tri-Agency research data management policy

Tri-Agency Statement of Principles on Digital Data Management

Depositing Existing Data in Public Repositories, Guidance in Applying TCPS2

Absence of collaborative training opportunities

Overall, additional work to promote the use of responsible RDM practices at MacEwan must be done.

Information regarding appropriate RDM practices need to be embedded into existing programs, such as ethics and grants workshops. Knowledge shared from other post-secondary institutions describes that a single comprehensive RDM training course, which provides guidance around best RDM practices and requirements and addresses concerns in ethics, privacy, and security, should also be offered, rather than each area providing this information in a siloed format.

Delivery of training opportunities on the management of data throughout the lifecycle of a research project will take many forms, including, but not limited to, informal lunch and learns, digital user guides, instructional videos, sessions on funding-specific DMP requirements, virtual appointments with the Data Services Librarian or the Ethics Officer, and/or more comprehensive training in the form of workshops.

Specific guidance for researchers working with sensitive data, or conducting research with Indigenous communities, collectives or organizations, will be integrated into these training opportunities and shared with MacEwan’s research community.

The development of advocacy and outreach programs is collaborative in nature, with input and potential delivery involving all Steering Committee members.

To ensure MacEwan’s commitment to good RDM practices, the Steering Committee will review and update the Institutional RDM Strategy on an annual basis in order to record progress.

The Steering Committee will regularly report its progress to the Associate Vice-President, Research, and quarterly updates on activities and decisions of the Steering Committee will be provided to the General Faculties Council Standing Committee on Scholarly Activity.

To support MacEwan by providing legal information and advice on research data management matters including, but not limited to, issues of safeguarding research, intellectual property and research agreements.

To support researchers working with Indigenous Peoples and organizations, and provide advice in relation to Indigenous data sovereignty and data-sharing agreements.

To maintain currency on initiatives and developments in research data management, support data management plan development, data and metadata standards, data literacy and reference support for finding and citing data, finding aids for data, datasets and/or data repositories, and preparing data and/or datasets for deposit into a repository.

Tara Stieglitz, Data Services and Science Librarian
data@macewan.ca

With representation in research ethics and research grant facilitation, to support researchers in the ethical management of research data and inclusion of research data management practices in grant applications.

Rebecca Mitchell, Research Ethics Officer
mitchellr38@macewan.ca

Dana Chamot, Research Grants & Development Officer
chamotd@macewan.ca

To provide technical support for data storage for active research projects (e.g., Microsoft OneDrive), along with data transfer, security training and awareness.

To provide privacy and information management consultation services, data sharing/transfer/access agreements, and guidance regarding appropriate de-identification and disposal of data.